CAREER: Improved Measurement of Dayside Magnetospheric Reconnection

这是一个职业奖项，旨在为东南路易斯安那大学的本科生物理和物理教育专业创建空间物理研究项目。教育目标是将拟议的研究项目作为一种工具，让PI导师本科生作为他们常规课程工作的辅助工具。科学目标是将Sondrestrom非相干散射雷达和超级双极光雷达网的数据结合起来，以比单独使用这两台仪器中的任何一种仪器更准确地测量行星际磁场和地球磁层之间的磁重联速率，并在更长的磁当地时间内测量。通过对大量地磁亚暴爆发前后的重联率测量进行统计分析，研究人员将检验亚暴往往是由重联驱动的磁层对流减少触发的假设。如果假设是真的，该项目将开发出能够实际预测亚暴的标准。这些基金将在学年和暑假期间提供学生津贴，以便学生可以旅行进行研究，并参加科学会议来展示成果。

This is a CAREER award to create a space physics research program for undergraduate physics and physics education majors at Southeastern Louisiana University. The educational objective is to use the proposed research project as a vehicle to have the PI mentor undergraduate students as an adjunct to their regular course work. The scientific objective is to combine data from the Sondrestrom Incoherent Scatter Radar and Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) to measure the rate of magnetic reconnection between the interplanetary magnetic field and Earth's magnetosphere more accurately and over a larger magnetic local time than is possible using either instrument independently. Through statistical analysis of the reconnection rate measurements before and after the onset of a large number of geomagnetic substorms, the investigators will test the hypothesis that substorms are often triggered by reductions in magnetospheric convection, which is driven by reconnection. If the hypothesis is true, the project will develop criteria that will allow actual prediction of substorms. The funds will provide student stipends, both during the academic year and summer, so that students can travel to conduct research and attend scientific conferences to present results.